As with many things in life, when it comes to a website, first impressions are vital. With millions of internet pages available to people (many covering the same topic), it’s very important to grab a visitor’s attention within the first few seconds. In fact, with the average person judging a page within three and five seconds, any website that isn’t attention grabbing is doomed to fail.
Relevancy is all
One of the most important steps to take from the outset is to ensure that a website is relevant to what people want. Unless someone’s creating a ‘dear diary’ type blog, then a website needs to be focussed towards a specific niche. Though this cuts a large proportion of people out of the picture because they won’t be interested in a site, it means that those with passion for a particular subject are likely to stay longer than the average reader.
Getting to know a target audience is a good step in ensuring that the right content is provided. And, whilst a website owner should always provide images, videos and articles they feel are a good fit, it’s also important to keep an eye on whether the posts will also resonate with readers.
There are several ways websites can be improved, allowing businesses to attract and retain their audience:
Firstly, pages have to load quickly as visitors simply will not wait for slow websites. If website loading times are slow, the amount of multimedia on the first page can be reduced, or a new host can be used.
Websites have to be stylish if they are to be read, so displaying information simply and having a clear call-to-action is vital.
It’s also necessary to provide authoritative and informative content on a consistent basis.
Many people start their website with a flurry of excitement, posting articles every day; then the novelty wears off. This is a crucial time, and can make or break a website.
Those that stop posting or break their schedule won’t normally see success, whilst those that continue to work hard and post good material will see an improvement in traffic. If inspiration is lacking, copywriters can be used to create engaging content to provide a website with a continued flow of interesting and fresh material.
Another vital tip, especially in these days of social media, is to constantly engage with readers. If someone leaves a comment, it’s important to respond as quickly as possible. This not only builds rapport with that one viewer, but also shows other guests to a website that there is relationship-building engagement.
The importance of having an attention-grabbing website should never be under-estimated. It’s hard to keep people engaged, and this is a fact that should never be forgotten.
By creating a well designed and easy to navigate website, as well as providing original content, readers can be hooked. Once an audience begins to grow, word of mouth will come into play, and social media will be abuzz with positive comment about the site.
